Burke's Reckoning
by Xander 576
Summary: The lone Wanderer has saved the wastes and given people hope, the enclave fell, paradise falls is littered with bodies, muties of every calibur have been slaughtered, but when Burke resurfaces as the new talon compony commander the wanderer needs help.
1. The Curtain Rises

**Author's note: this is my first story so please read and review and I hope you enjoy, Burke won't show until chapter 3 or 4 so please be patient**

**The Mall 5 months after Broken Steel dlc**

Alexander had been scouting through the mall area for the last week or so, picking off super mutants with his infiltrator assault rifle, blowing their head off with his gauss rifle and tearing their throats out with his flaming super charged ripper (Moira's idea). Alexander didn't have much else to do, the enclave were crushed, the super mutants were quickly thinning out, even feral ghouls were becoming less common, all he could do was kill the super mutants and the occasional raider. As he ran away from ten super mutants across the trenches he couldn't help but feel empty, lost, bored.

"YOU GET DEAD NOW!" an overlord screamed as he shot a rocket at Alexander who leapt to the side behind a bus stop as graceful as dancer. The mutants continued their charge moving to the other side of the bus stop… only to find that no one was there.

"Ahem and here is the part where you fall on the ground and bleed profusely" Alexander chuckled as he stepped out of thin air and began to open fire with his infiltrator rifle. Out of the ten super mutants six went down before Alexander's clip ran out, the remaining four were about to fire when another person wearing outcast power armor appeared from behind a tree and began to cut down the other super mutants with a combat shotgun "Sigh I miss the old days" Alexander sighed

"Ten in all, not a bad day" Charon stated as he gently kicked the body of a super mutant corpse "Lyons will be pleased when we return"

"Yeah the old man always gets a twinkle in his eyes when we tell him one more mutant has been treated to our hospitality"

"I meant the other one, and not because of the beasts" Charon replied in his cold, calculating voice. Alexander could never tell when his oldest friend was ribbing him or not, he had met Charon in a dirty dive run by one of the most greedy bastards in the wastes, after he had stolen Charon's contract the first thing Charon did was put two in each of his old master's eyes, Charon scared him sometimes but he knew that Charon had warmed up to him and was glad that his friend was starting to joke around, even if it was… creepy.

"OK then let's get the blood samples and go get paid, my Chinese armor's stealth field could do with a recharge" Alexander said avoiding his friend's stare as he ducked the conversation of Sarah. "Well then off to home sweet home" he said as the companions set off toward the dark beauty of the citadel.


	2. Sit Rep

**Citadel Elder Lyons Room**

"Hmm, I'm guessing the old man didn't ask us up here to give congratulatory vodka I'm assuming?" Alexander said in an indifferent tone as he sat in a comfortable armchair in the corner of the elder's private quarters.

"I'm sure you're suspicions are completely baseless… as usual" Sarah had said teasingly while on the terminal typing to what he was sure was star paladin Cross, the two had become very close after Alexander had (against his will) traveled with her during his investigation into Enclave forces. "Maybe if you cooperated with the brotherhood more you'd be kept in the loop, star paladin Books" she said coating her last words with what Alexander hoped was mock venom.

Alexander liked Sarah, she was an independent, strong woman, but she was a soldier first and a person second, Alexander had thought of getting closer to her, but after being completely shut down by Amata when she (figuratively) booted his ass out of vault 101 he was a bit shy, truth be told, and she just had this coldness to her, like she was always in her head, never just rolling with what she felt and that was an entire reality he just couldn't comprehend, he was a brawler, go with instinct and watch the limbs fly.

"Awkward" Charon stated from his favorite leaning corner, _right there was another person in the room, aw shit._ Alexander thanked god when Lyons finally walked into the room dispelling the tense quiet that had chocked the room.

"Sarah, Ali I've asked you to meet me here because there is serious trouble on the horizon for the brotherhood" Lyons said in an even more tired voice than usual, poor bastard carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and barely got a thank you.

"Well what's the deal boss man?" Alexander drawled in an affectionate tone to what had become a father figure to him in the past months.

"Talon are back, and in force, AND utilizing a mass array of energy weapons" Lyons waited for what he said to sink in "They've just destroyed outpost fifteen. They stripped the brothers of their power armor and pilfered all energy weapons, not only that but it seems that they were working with purpose and knew that that particular outpost was holding a supply of five tesla cannons, I got the report yesterday and I've been trying to keep word from spreading but it will get out sooner or later and morale will suffer. We only know it was talon because they were courteous enough to leave their insignia and happened to leave one knight alive."

"Oh my god" Sarah said covering her mouth with both hands as the full extent of her father's words hit her

"Please tell me there's a strategy coming up" Alexander said as his entire visage seemed to darken

"We can't do anything without Intel and I can't think of anyone else for the job but the pride, you're going to hit the wastes and find our enemy, once we find them Liberty prime will take steel to our foes and our brothers will find justice"

"No" Alexander simply said

"What?" was the simultaneous reply of everyone in the room, even Charon.

"Charon and I will move quicker alone and I can contact a merc team who can fill the fire power and might know where to look" Alexander said growing more and more aware that Sarah was just about ready to decapitate Alexander and feed him to the mole rats.

"NO! I am sick and tired of this lone wanderer bullshit! You are not ditching me here and going kamikaze on ANOTHER bunch of heavily armed psychopaths!" Sarah yelled unable to stop the flow of emotion that burst out of her, _not quite as in her head as it seemed_.

"N-not alone, me and Charon, b-back me up man!" he stuttered, but as he turned to Charon he saw that he and Lyons had already made their escape closing the door and probably locked the door that they knew Sarah had the only other key to behind them, _those rat shit pricks! _He considered his escape route, no windows, one door, locked, he's picked it before but there was no time, all he could do was watch as Sarah edged closer and closer

"now let me make this ABUNDANTLY clear to you oh great LONE wanderer, you WILL be taking me and Gallows to watch your back, AND because you're being such a chickenshit about it, YOU WILL make this up to me with a date which is NOT negotiable, you readn' me soldier" she said as she was barely two centimeters from his face and as she closed in the distance and kissed him. _Okay I take back the rat shit prick thing. _


	3. Regret

**Author's note: Thanks for the reviews guys I've been having some trouble with ideas so my chapters have been suffering for it but now I think I'm starting to get a swing on the direction of my story and I should have more content for you. **

**Citadel Alexander's private quarters**

Alexander had spent the last hour in his private room in the Citadel, gearing up, thinking of Sarah. He had known for a while that there was an attraction between them and that he'd have to deal with it sooner than later, he just thought that he'd be turning her down. He could still taste her on his lips and he felt this indescribable feeling of warmth that came from knowing that somebody in this dead world cared wether he came back from his little 'trips'. But he knew that this wouldn't end well he knew that wherever he went she'd always have a reason to join him now. He knew she could take care of herself but he had made the mistake of being complacent and it had cost him dearly.

**Vault 87 several months earlier**

"Well I'm not sure if it will assist you human but I hope you use it with noble intentions" Fawkes said in his deep but gentle voice

"That will not be an issue" Charon had stated with his raspy voice further distorted by the outcast power armour Alexander had gifted him with when they first started travelling together

"Ha! That's right there ain't anyone that's more of a goody two shoes than lover" Clover giggled as she whimsically draped her arms over Alexander's shoulder. Alexander had met Clover when he decided to scout out Paradise Falls after hearing about Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood's escape from there on GNR. Back in those days Alexander had been reduced to using a pathetic silenced 10mm pistol, he still cringes in embarrassment when thinks of the days before his little vacation in the Pitt which led him to his beloved infiltrator. Alexander had snuck in easily and had found the late Eulogy Jones beating her for killing a slave buyer when they tried to grab her ass. Alexander had easily dispatched Jones and had even taken out quite a few others but his pathetic pistol just didn't have the kick and he had been the most shocked when instead of his death the rest fell as Clover went insane and took them down with her officer's sword. She followed him around and (more than once) gotten him into a lot of trouble ever since then as friend who found it hilarious when he blushed to her very open flirtation.

"Yeah hilarious now can we please get out of this creepy ass vault. You can take lead Clo." Clover giggled again and took out her sword, eagerly running ahead. Alexander was going to shout out but had decided that Clover probably wouldn't listen anyway. He jogged up behind her and before he even knew he was on the ground an explosion knocked him flat on his back and all he could do was watch as Clover bled out right next to him and frightening figures in the black power armour that had made the Enclave a force to reckon with filled the room in a flash of activity.

"Hmm that explosion was only supposed to stun him you morons" Autumn said in minor annoyance to an Enclave soldier

"I apologise sir, but luckily it would seem the other one took the grunt of the explosion, he'll pass out soon but he won't die" the soldier said with a slight hint of fear of the ruthless bastard that stood before him. Another soldier ran into the room from the hallway Alexander came from

"Sir! There was a super mutant and one of the Outcasts but they retreated into the irradiated part of the vault, not even our suits could protect us from that level of radiation."

"They are unimportant we have the asset, now move out!" Autumn said in his superior voice laced with amusement as he watched Alexander try to scream as Clover took her last breath in pain.

**Alexander's quarters present day**

"Your father would be proud" star paladin Cross said softly as she entered his room and gently sat next to him taking his hand "he knew you were meant for greatness, and I know she would be proud of you too"

"Well that's what parents do" he almost whispered to himself

"I meant Clover" she said while she stroked his hand. Cross had recognised and approached Alexander the second she saw him in the Citadel and had always shown a very maternal affection for him, she had been the only one Alexander had told about Clover and she had been a constant source of strength when Alexander had began to lose faith in himself.

"How can I protect all of these people when I couldn't even save her" he said fighting back the sobs that he swore he would never succumb to again, he already did his mourning when he retrieved Clover's body and put her to rest on a hill overlooking the endless ocean Fawkes had found on his way to save him from the Enclave.

"You can't" Cross said in an almost jokingly manner

"What? Then why are you allowing them to do this!" Alexander yelled as the fear of losing more companions, more friends had taken over him.

"I'm not saying anything because you don't have to, those people out there are soldiers who have fought for their lives, just like you, who have lost friends and loved ones to the fires of war, just like you, who would rather die than see another have to suffer the loss they have suffered, just like you. This fight is theirs just as much as yours and their faith in you will give you all the strength you need to overcome the hardships ahead, I don't know who made Talon into such an efficient fighting force but I know you're going to need more than your own skills to fell this foe." Cross hugged Alexander and got up off the bed leaving the room without a single word.

Alexander sat there alone and looked at the two armour sets that hung on the wall and the paint gun that lay on his desk whispering the ideas into his head.

"Strength through faith huh?" Alexander whispered as he began to grin.

**Footnote: I know I'm doing a lot of background writing but I really felt that it was necessary to understand my character and to understand that he's more than just a wisecracking uber killer. Thanks for the reviews and feel free to throw any story ideas or any cameos you'd like to see I'd really appreciate it. The action will start next chapter so thanks for putting up with me :)**


	4. Knock Knock

**Author's note: sorry for taking so long but I had a massive writer's block, I'm not as satisfied with this chapter as I could be, but I hope that's just me over thinking it, Ideas, errors, complaints I'm all ears. **

**Top floor of the Statesman Hotel**

_Burke sat in the dark, cold room, he was attached to various medical machines and he couldn't feel his legs. He had done this to him; he had made his own body a prison of weakness. Burke had always been a cruel man, any number of people could attest to that, well they would if they were still among the living. Burke had always considered himself a consummate professional, but the hatred that swelled in him could not be resisted, it could not be controlled, Burke had become a vessel of rage and spite, all because of that man, all because of his pitiful and shortsighted vision of 'justice', Bah! Justice was just a word the weak dreamed of to forget their pitiful existence in the shadows of the elite like himself. Burke picked up an old radio and feebly pushed the send button_

"_Report" Burke ordered in raspy and feeble voice_

"_We got the stuff, went through a LOT of brotherhood to get em' though" the merc responded in loud and obnoxious voice_

"_Was there any evidence left behind?"_

"_Heheh that's the good part we left one of those pussies alive and left our mark so those bitches knew Talon ain't to be fucked with!"_

"_Is that so?"_

"_Yeah ha-ha!"_

"_Is the major there?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_Is-the-major there?" Burke politely asked as if he were talking to a relative, well a relative he didn't kill_

"_Uh y-yeah, MAJOR! The boss wants you" the merc yelled, now considerably shaken that the ruthless machine known as major Kris Sashi silently approached and took the radio_

"_Orders?" Sashi blankly questioned_

"_Have the tesla components been loaded?"_

"_Yes"_

"_Kill the fools that left their 'mark'" Burke's voice had suddenly become vicious and despite his feeble and raspy voice Sashi had felt a cold feeling of dread but he had maintained his cold exterior and quietly put the radio down and gave the kill signal to his men supervising the others loading the weapons scavenged from the brotherhood._

**Vertibird flight from Citadel**

The entire flight had been completely silent as all of the occupants had been staring in awe of the almost terrifying figure that sat opposite of them in what seemed to be the longest flight of Sarah's life. She had been in the courtyard with the rest of the pride, fighting back their protests of being left behind with sole exception of Gallows, who Sarah had really only brought him because Alexander and Gallows seemed to get along and she had wanted him to become more involved in the pride, she wanted him to be more involved in her world. But when she saw Alexander walk into the courtyard she had almost forgotten her feelings for him as she saw him in the power armour that Alexander had made by coloring his regular brotherhood armour black as midnight and melding parts of his Chinese stealth armour, that and an inky black duster had almost given him a reaper look, when the brothers had saw him they had more or less had the same reaction, he had always been the brotherhood's secret weapon but now he they saw him as symbol, as a force that represented the brotherhood, you had to admit Alexander knew how to play a crowd, a one hour meld job and coat of paint and he became the very vision of death.

"Soooooo how about this weather we've been having" Alexander said slightly tilting his head to the side, hearing this while he was wearing his stealth suit's helmet just seemed, wrong

"Crazy" Charon said not helping the awkwardness of the situation.

**Riley's Rangers Compound **

The Vertibird had touched down with the relative ease that could only come with constant practice, _the brotherhood have been busy_. The four stepped of the Vertibird to be met by another four waiting for them outside the compound, fully armed and ready for action.

"Uh hey Riley, what's happening?" Alexander said looking at the always trigger itching Brick and what Alexander had suspected was her soul mate, the large, deadly minigun that Brick had named Eugene (god knows why).

"W-what the hell, is that you Alexander? You done something with your hair?" Riley asked with suspicion, fully aware of the two brother hood soldiers giving her a less than friendly glare, especially the girl.

"Well as lovely as this is why don't we go inside and not shoot each other" Alexander said as he began to notice Brick slightly lifting the barrel of Eugene.

**A few hours later**

"Well you don't like to live a boring lifestyle do you now?" Riley chuckled as they all sat at a table enjoying a beer, with the exception of Gallows and Charon who simply haunted opposite corners of the crowded barracks, _like creepy ass twins_ Alexander thought as he glanced at them.

"So, you got any ideas?" Alexander said in a lazy voice, enjoying the air without his helmet that he took off at the others behest.

"Maybe what's in it for me?" Riley asked in mock seduction that drew daggers from Sarah and made the medic Butcher throw a few dirty looks at Alexander, which both seemed to be completely oblivious of as the two soldiers joked around.

"Always the greedy merc huh, well glad to know some things never change" Alexander sighed as he took out a bag that contained one thousand caps and threw it to the mercenary commander who smiled what would have seemed like a completely innocent smile to anybody else but the increasingly discomforted Alexander.

"Hmm you always did know how to please, alright, we'll head out bush whacking now, there's only so many places they can hold up, and if it's in the city we'll find him that much qui-" before Riley could finish there was a massive explosion and the power to the basement that was the ranger headquarters cut and the party was consumed by a claustrophobic darkness.

"Don't say a word" Alexander said as he turned on his pip boy light and Riley led them to a ladder at the end of the room which led up to the crumbling upper floors of the building the rangers inhabited. Alexander went first and had to squint as the bright light of the sun confronted him as it penetrated the reinforced orange flexi glass of his helmet, _oh man, almost like the first time, stupid, fancy light bulb_. He motioned for the rest to come up as quietly skulked up to a half crumbled wall, engaging stealth systems before sticking his head out to see the front courtyard. "Well that was much quicker than I thought we'd find him" he whispered to Sarah as she silently crept up to his side.

Sarah had to stifle a curse as she counted no less than fifteen Talon mercs stood across the courtyard spread out. But Sarah's frustration turned to confusion as she saw the mercs constantly look behind their backs, wildly pointing their guns around as if they were being stalked by some invisible predator, Sarah turned to Alexander but only saw a slight shimmer the jumped over the wall and fell to the ground without a sound, Sarah prepared her laser rifle and motioned for the rest of the group to take place and do the same, she took steady breaths and prepared herself for the kill.

Alexander fell to the ground and stifled a groan as tripped on rock, thankfully his would be dispatchers seemed more interested in their imaginary hunters. He waited a few minutes for the pain to subside and with practiced stealth he moved out into the courtyard and silently knocked a secluded merc unconscious with a swift punch to the temple, he stashed the merc in bush away from the rest and yelled his signal to the rest of the group

"SURPRISE!" he screamed as he opened up on the mercs with his infiltrator taking out three mercs before he had to duck into cover to reload. He replaced the clip and looked up to see that the mercs had replaced their fear with blood lust and they focused all of their attention on him, _oh that's not good_.

Sarah watched as Alexander had dispatched the merc in mere seconds, if she hadn't focused on him from the moment he jumped she wouldn't have seen him at all; she had to admire his style. He moved with grace and planned his battles in minutes; she had wondered what kind of plan he had hatched, what sort of delicate tactic he had put into place.

"SURPRISE!" she had watched him scream as he put a number of well aimed shots into three of the mercs chests. Groaning at thinking he had style she began to fire her own weapon on the mercs that had seemed to obsess themselves with Alexander firing everything they had at the quickly deteriorating cover that Alexander crouched behind. It had become a race of time, shoot the mercs before they shot him, she shot two of the mercs in the head and saw them turn into dust, another had bled out after getting hit in the chest by Charon's shotgun who had also jumped down to the courtyard, Riley got one with her assault rifle and Gallows downed two with expert sniper shots. There were five left and they were at Alexander's cover, one threw a plasma grenade completely uncaring about the two mercs who had charged the cover to get a shot, they were torn to pieces. Sarah screamed but in a flash Alexander had unsheathed behind the remaining three and three shots from his infiltrator exploded their heads before they even had a chance to turn. "Well that went better than expected" Alexander said as he compulsively began to strip the bodies of the dead mercs for anything useful as Sarah and the rest of the group made their way down. When she reached him the first thing she did was slap him, which added with her power armour made for quite a hit.

"What the hell was that you suicidal maniac!" Sarah yelled as Alexander stumbled back trying to keep the world from spinning in his head.

"Damn! That was improvising, and it worked, was that really necessary?" Alexander sulked as he took off his helmet and nursed his red cheek; if it weren't for his helmet he may very well have been killed.

"You can argue on the honeymoon" Charon had said as he examined the unconscious Talon merc "We have questions to ask"


	5. Guess Who

**Ranger compound (interior)**

Alexander sat in the only chair in the dark, smoky room, Charon and Gallows silently standing at either side of him, all of them were glaring at the unconscious Talon merc, taking in his features, only one thing came to these experienced soldiers, these frighteningly efficient individuals, this merc was no older than Alexander, he was too young to be a Talon merc.

**Ranger compound (exterior)**

"I'm just saying we don't know enough to take this kind of risk" Butcher said to Riley as they casually sat at a sand bag barricade, watching the narrow alley that acted as the sole entrance and exit to the compound, their home's throat "If they wanted us dead, why not just block the entrance and wait us out, and what was the deal with them, they looked like death himself was sniffing their ass" Butcher continued, obviously frustrated at being so uninformed.

"I hear you Butcher, but those caps are basically three jobs straight up front! Nobody's paying for mutie removal and we've mapped anyplace worth mapping in the city, we need this" Riley said gently grabbing Butcher's hand. Times had indeed been tough on the devil may care mercs. They held no grudge at Alexander, they were professionals and he had simply been more efficient at solving the super mutant problem than they were, but without mapping mutant removal had been their lifeline in the city, their compound had become a home, leaving to find different work just seemed wrong. Riley hated how helpless she had been to save Theo, save her men, but watching them slowly loose every job they had, watching them go without the basics they simply needed just broke her heart, she agreed that this job had a bad feeling but she would not sit back and watch them starve, she would not watch Butcher starve.

"I know but damn, if this isn't trouble, then I'm a ghoul's hairdresser" Butcher sighed as he sat back in his fold out chair and continued to read D.C.'s journal of medicine.

Nick had felt like he had taken a sledgehammer to the face, as he slowly looked up his neck shot spikes of pain straight his brain and he had to stop while the pain slowly ebbed away, how long had he been out like this? When he finally did manage to look up he almost blacked right out again as he saw what was probably the most fear inducing sight a Talon merc could face. The Lone Wanderer sat right across the small table from him, Nick knew it was the Wanderer, god knew he passed enough death warrants on to remember the description, African American with jet black hair and cold blue eyes, he knew the hairstyle, fuck what was it? Unsettler! That was it; Lin wouldn't shut up about hair dressing and even showed him some stylist book she found in the compound. He looked at the equally daunting power armoured men at either side of him, he recognised Charon right away, Outcast armour with a combat shotgun, those tech perverts wouldn't touch something like that, and he didn't recognise the other one but had to assume it was just another deadly lackey that got his armour from the Wanderer. He took in the sight of the three of them, silently glaring at him and seriously had to fight to keep his pants dry.

"Umm I surrender?" Nick tried hopefully

"I don't remember giving you the option" the Wanderer replied blankly to the whimpering merc

"Well what the fuck do you want from me; I'm a quartermaster for god's sake!" Nick screamed in an annoyingly high pitched voice. The Wanderer simply stared at him with his cold eyes, but Nick could see something else in his eyes, anger, no, sadness? Did he feel sorry for him? Nick's eyes lit up in realisation "O-oh god don't kill me, please I'll do whatever you want I swear, just don't fucking kill meeeeeee!" Nick struggled and struggled but all he accomplished was tipping the chair over and breaking his hand which made him howl in pain. The Wanderer shot forward with a knife and Nick closed his eyes, but instead of cold metal cutting his flesh, his hands were free and the Wanderer helped him back up.

"You're not a soldier are you" The Wanderer stated "You've never even shot a person before" Nick cradled his hand and tried not to sob.

"Y-yeah, I'm just a quarter master, I work with numbers and make sure crates don't get smashed" Nick breathed as he saw the redness begin to form on the back of his hand. Alexander took a quick look at his hand and gently bandaged it as he gave a nod to the other two to leave the room, as they did he finished bandaging his hand and looked him right in his eye.

"What's your name?"

**Two Hours later**

Alexander leaned against a wall as the entire group with the exception of Riley and Butcher formed in front of him except for Nick who stayed close to his side trying to avoid the murderous looks that Brick kept shooting at him.

"Well?" Sarah said obviously eager to hear whatever information that made Alexander so tense

"It's worse than we thought, much, much, much worse than we thought" Alexander softly said as he gave the ground a look that would have murdered any person who might have been unlucky enough to have received it. "Talon are nothing more than errand boys for our real enemy, Burke" the others didn't seem to understand the weight of what Alexander just said except for Charon.

"Impossible, he's dead" Charon said with what might have been the slightest amount of emotion "nobody survives a sniper shot to the spine"

"Burke wasn't nobody" Alexander said trying to hide the anger that swelled up from a part of himself he thought he locked away a long time ago, he was wrong. "He has taken control of the new commander of Talon Kris Sashi, the older brother of Nick here, small world huh" Alexander chuckled subtly taking attention from his knuckles which were bone white from the fists that Alexander unknowingly made as he thought of the vicious animal that Alexander had thought cleansed from the world.

"That doesn't explain how this Burke made Talon fierce enough to take out a brotherhood outpost" Sarah said uncomfortably aware that Alexander and Charon had become frighteningly stiff as they stared at one another, almost as if they could hear each other's thoughts, and for all she knew they could.

"Not fierce, just rabid" Nick squeaked as he tried show that he was cooperating "Burke has some kind of psychoactive stimulant, he gets people to sneak it in regular psycho and when it's injected it makes the guys wig out, I mean they just go crazy, half the time they barely know who they are, I found out when I saw one of Kris' guys messing with the drug supply and then Burke had me injected just enough to stand up and sent me here to be... silenced" Nick grew quiet himself and sat down at the dinner table reaching for a beer as Brick sat across from him to get more information.

"That's just messed up man, how are we going to take out a group of highly armed, strung out maniacs" Donovan sighed as he went to join Nick and Brick for a beer.

"All we need to do is find out where they are and call in Liberty Prime" Sarah said as she put her hand on Alexander's arm, trying to give some form of reassurance.

"No, if Burke could make some drug to make super mercs then he probably planned something for Liberty Prime, we need to get inside the hole he's hiding in and finish him properly this time" Alexander mumbled more to himself than anyone else. "We... I need help" Alexander turned to Charon and his old friend took off his helmet showing his discoloured and peeling skin, his bodily prison and Charon knew what Alexander was going to say "we need to call in a few favours"


	6. Where are they now?

**Megaton **

Jericho had been having a shit day; four raider attacks, two trader complaining their asses off to him, and his favourite gun jammed up and snapped a part and he had to pay Moira an arm and a leg just to get it fixed, but this took the cake (whatever the hell that is), Moriarty actually tried to blackmail him! _Now, now lad, all I'm asking is to expand my business a little if people want a little jet what concern is to you? Or shall the Stahl incident go public._ Jericho spat in the irradiated puddle in the middle of Megaton, the puddle that was home to the now harmless undetonated nuke, hence the witty name Megaton. Jericho trudged up to the bar that the scum lord called Moriarty called his palace. Jericho had become sheriff, he never thought he would, but after seeing the GNR behemoth, talking to Three Dog, he just couldn't ignore the people around him, when he came back, he picked up the late Lucas Simms' hat and became the new protector of Megaton. Jericho passed his house and almost tripped on one of Harden's toys, _damn kid _Jericho thought as he kicked his adopted son's toys out of the path and continued up with a purposeful stride, he had been having a shit day, but couldn't shake the feeling that it would be getting a lot worse. _Why didn't I just go with the junk box to Canterbury Commons _

**Canterbury Commons**

Machete had had a boring day, no raiders, mole rats, hell the traders weren't even getting rowdy, she really wanted to hit something, and if Derek didn't stop staring at her the kid might just be it.

"Attention!" Sergeant RL-3 said in his loud mechanic voice as he floated in from the open front door of the diner "Sheriff Machete I have detected movement outside of the township and request permission to initiate a scouting operation into the target area sir!" Machete heaved a long sigh, ever since Dom retired to Rivet City law enforcement just seemed to lose its appeal.

"We're expecting a trader caravan; it's probably them so no reason for you to go, you scare them" Machete said over her squirrel stew as she remembered how many times she had to apologise for plasma burns on trader cargo and scared brahmin. RL-3 lingered there almost as if he was sad at her lack of enthusiasm when he turned around and floated out of the door. Machete felt a wave of guilt despite herself, RL-3 seemed to have taken a liking to her ever since she took out three raiders attacking a caravan, it had followed her around and took up deputy work but ever since Scott Wolinski the former 'Mechanist' had taken a look at it, it changed, became more personal, kept bugging her about how she didn't eat enough, insisted she tend to minor cuts and scrapes, used less soldier terms. Scott swore he just restored some systems and replaced some minor parts and Machete believed him but she didn't like how attached to the hunk of metal she was getting. She never knew her parents, Little Lamplight adults bring their children to be raised in safety in the caverns after they are exiled after reaching the age of sixteen, RL-3 had shown as much concern for her as Dom did and was beginning to feel like another father figure. Yep she really wanted to hit something.

**Rivet City**

Butch sat in the Weatherly hotel feeling very self conscious about him and how little he fitted in the relatively clean hotel in his not so clean tunnel snake outfit. He had two reasons for being in the well maintained hotel, one he was avoiding the muddy rudder which was his usual crappy bar hangout, which was also frequented by Tammy Hargrave, a drunkard abusive mother who had taken to flirting with him when she was drunk, which was always and he had been working up the nerve to ask the proprietor of the hotel, Vera Weatherly out on a date. He had been smitten the second he saw her. He had left the vault with Alexander after he had helped save his mother from rad roaches and Butch had helped him escape, but the two parted ways then and there, Alexander went Megaton, Butch went to Rivet City, the two had met again a couple weeks after and they travelled together which led to them finding Bryan Wilks, Vera's nephew and now surrogate child. Bryan seemed to idolise Butch, god knows why Butch thought, but he was good kid and Butch had liked showing the kid some of the tricks he had learned in the wastes, he had made him an honorary tunnel snake and he would bring him along to kill some of the smaller critters that Butch had taken to getting rid of. Bryan had often tried devising his own plans to bring the two together, all of which failed, on epic proportions. Butch was sure that Vera was at least interested in him, but every time he tried to say something his throat would choke up and he would flash back to his vault bully days, and he would just slink back down to the muddy rudder or take his frustrations out on the creatures that constantly annoyed the citizens by making noises on the lower decks. Butch got up after looking at his untouched glass of whisky and walked up to Vera, _OK just remember what Sydney told you_.

"Hey Vera" Butch said as he grabbed her hand and whispered into her ear.

**Underworld**

Sydney sat at her usual table at the ninth circle, swigging back shots of whisky and casually selling ammo to the locals. She had been having a good week, business was good, the hooch had been even better, the ghouls just let her be and she wasn't getting shot at, she was happy. She had read the note her father had left her and she had felt a tinge of sadness but she had put that in its place, life was good and she wasn't letting anything mess that up.

"Hey there's a brotherhood maniac out there taking on a bunch of super mutants with a super sledge!" A ghoul screamed as he burst into the bar. Sydney sighed and picked up one of her ultra SMGs, she knew who it was of course, only one person takes on a group of armed super mutants with a freaking sledge.

"Cross!" Sydney yelled as she burst out of the entrance to Underworld and began empting her clip into the brute that had aimed it's minigun at Cross. Cross had crushed the heads of three of the closest super mutants but had been pinned by two brutes with miniguns. Sydney killed the first with her SMG, its head turned into an unidentifiable mass of red flesh and she threw a plasma grenade at the other and saw it burn in a cloud of green plasma. She moved over to Cross but Cross broke into a sprint and charged at what Sydney could now see was an overlord that she had thrown a plasma grenade at. Cross jumped at it and her sledge tore the beast's head off in one fluid motion. Sydney stood there amazed at the stoic woman standing over the corpse of the mutant, contemplating victory. Sydney had met her when she met Alexander or 101 as he was also known, they had been investigating leads around Rivet City, Sydney had offered to upgrade Alexander's infiltrator in return for his help recovering the declaration of independence. The three had gone through hell to get it but they returned to Rivet City victorious, Alexander had also retrieved her father's note, his last goodbye before he died in the statesman hotel, and she had given him one of her SMGs, she liked him and Cross they seemed like one of the good sort, a rare thing in the wastes.

"It is good to see once more Sydney" Cross said in her courteous, slightly cold tone

"Uh yeah likewise, what brings you to my slice of paradise" Sydney replied both slightly embarrassed and intimidated at Cross' powerful figure, even with her power armour on you could see she had a muscled, soldier's body, Sydney was more smooth and delicate, somebody who fought from afar, not tearing the heads of her opponents.

"Our friend needs your assistance" she said with a more concerned tone, Sydney didn't wait to hear any more and the two started their trek towards the Ranger compound and their friend "We are on route" Cross said into an odd little device that looked like a miniature radio.

**Agatha's House**

Fawkes sat on the floor of the small shack house, he was leaning against one of the corners and took up much of the floor space but he was completely at peace, a graceful old lady stood in front of him and played a sombre song with an equally graceful violin. Fawkes's consciousness meditated in a gentle blackness as the music played by the old woman called Agatha embraced him in wave upon wave of brilliance. Fawkes felt at peace with his mutation, his captive experiences and his existence. The music healed his mind and he felt no desire to be anywhere else, but he could feel it, a twitching whisper, a tug at the primitive side of his mind, there was darkness falling on the wastes. But he could also feel a familiar sensation, a glee almost sprinkled with aggression, he felt his friend, and he knew that he would soon have to leave the woman who had treated him so well, this had saddened him but he knew he could not ignore the call of a titan, the Lone Wanderer was coming for him, and Fawkes would leave when he arrived.

"Bravo Madam Agatha, you have gift indeed" Fawkes gently spoke as he softly clapped, growing ever more aware that the familiar presence grew stronger and stronger.

**Author's note:** **I know Sydney is only a temporary character but I thought that she had always made for an interesting companion when I played the game. **


	7. The Plot Thickens

**Megaton**

Jericho kicked in the door to Moriarty's saloon, and almost fell flat on his ass when he was met with the gun barrels of several keen to kill mercenaries. Moriarty strode leisurely out of the back room passing the thugs behind the bar. He had one of the most smug, corrupt smirks that a single man could ever wear without being instantly shot by every waster with a gun and half a conscious.

"You just had to be difficult, didn't you lad? I wonder if your beloved town will give you an honourable burial after I tell them about your little 'forced bonding' session with poor little Jenny Stahl." Jericho couldn't hold his anger down any more; he jumped back out the door taking two of at least five mercs down with his Chinese assault rifle. He rolled to the side seconds before a wall of bullets burst out of the entrance to the saloon. Jericho casually nodded to waster walking up the pathway that simply rolled his eyes and decided to get a drink at the bass lantern instead. Jericho got tired of waiting and threw two grenades into the saloon. He waited for the explosion and carefully peeked inside, careful not to get too exposed. The bar was a mess, the metal walls were dented and covered with blood and the bar was misshapen and had chunks missing. Jericho examined the wreckage, two with bullet wounds the head_ ha I still got it _Jericho thought to himself as he examined the mercs he killed with his rifle. He continued his search and counted the merc bodies that decorated the bar, one, two, three, four, Jesus Moriarty hired six guys to pop him, Jericho couldn't help but feel flattered. He stopped in his tracks as before he walked out of the door _hang on six mercs, but no Moriarty _Jericho spun around and checked the bar top to bottom, but he found nothing to indicate that Moriarty's insides had joined the mercs' on the wall of his dank hole, and after Jericho found the back door open he knew that Moriarty had probably sprinted for out of town the second Jericho made his move. A cold anger fell over him as he began to loot the dead mercs gear (old habits die hard). He turned over the most intact merc and was taken aback when he saw the Talon Company's insignia on the merc's under shirt, Jericho had to double check to convince himself that his ageing eyes weren't screwing with him, it was at that moment two more mercs walked in. Jericho had aimed his gun in a split second and was about to shoot but he aimed his gun up at the last second and shot the roof, he saw the two mercs were wearing green combat armour, no Talon fucker would wear green, not terrifying enough.

"Sorry, sorry you got me at a bad time" Jericho apologised as he put his gun down as a show of good will. The two did the same and walked into the room taking in the carnage of Jericho's little outing. "yeah dumb fuck tried to blackmail me about this time I got really drunk and tried to rape some girl" he saw the look on the woman's face and quickly added "I was really drunk and she gave me a good ass kicking for it, we actually laugh about it, well she laughs at me but yeah it's not that bad" the woman still had a look of disdain on her face but seemed to put her feelings aside as she knelt down and checked the body.

"Damn! What does this mean? Look your Jericho right? The Lone Wanderer sent us" Riley said as she pointed at herself and Butcher "He needs your help, with Talon, and judging from the look of this place you'll probably want them out of business, we can explain the rest on the way to our base but we gotta go as soon as possible." Jericho thought deeply for a few seconds and got up moving his sheriff hat up with his finger

"Alright I'll hear him out, gotta talk to guy about looking after my kid first though" Jericho said plainly as he strode out of the bar as if just came in for a quick drink.

**Canterbury Commons**

Machete didn't know what hit her, one minute she was eating her stew and the next she was scrambling to cover as a bunch of pissed off Talon thugs rolled in and started taking pot shots at her. Everybody in the diner dove behind the counter and Machete started shooting, but she was one person with a hunting rifle and her attackers were five armed with laser rifles, it was all she could do to get some cover as the mercs kept firing at her position. She got one right through the eye but she got clipped on the leg as she tried to reload in the open. She cursed herself for making such a rookie mistake and tried to limp back to her cover behind the diner. She felt a hard pain at the back of her head and was enveloped in darkness before her head even hit the ground.

RL-3 was making its usual patrol around the robot repair centre outside of town but had picked up the shots on his long range sensors. It had been feeling very strange since Scott restored some of its systems; the strange thing was that it COULD feel. The world was no longer just a set of codes installed to determine which life forms was threats, and which had the clearance to give him orders. It could determine, identities, it could see dead bodies and it would feel regret, it would see Derek pining for Machete and would laugh, it didn't see itself as RL-3 it saw itself as something else, someone else, it saw a man with brown hair, wearing white combat armour. He saw fields of white littered with bodies; he saw massive guns on a cliff being destroyed in brilliant flashes of fire; he saw a soldier who led men against a relentless enemy. But he could also see his metallic frame, he didn't know if he was a he or an it, all he knew was he was fond of this town, and of the scrappy sheriff girl. So when he saw Talon mercs dragging Machete off he could feel the anger and fear swelling from a place he didn't know existed. RL-3 fired his plasma arm and reduced one of the four mercs to goo. But he couldn't move fast enough and the mercs had gotten out of sight and out of his sensor range by the time he reached the town. He felt distraught and afraid, and oddly didn't notice the other merc come up from behind him. The robot didn't show any surprise or confusion as it immediately registered the familiar face of Donavan, one of the Riley's Rangers mercenary group and avowed enemies of Talon Company, RL-3 simply followed him as Donovan led him back to base.

**Rivet City**

Butch was over the moon, he had whispered that line that Sydney told him about and Vera had practically jumped on him, they had spent hours in her room afterwards, just talking. Butch hadn't felt so good in his entire life. They had arranged to have a picnic by water, just him Vera and Bryan. He had never really thought of himself as a family kind of guy but when he pictured himself actually making a life with the two of them he began to forget all of those stupid dreams of being the ultimate badass, he had seen enough death in the wastes to see how pointless it all was, had grown up and got tired of seeing the faces of dead people in his sleep, hunting creatures, was clean, fun, productive, he felt like he was actually a valuable member of the city, not just some thug angry at the world. Butch gave Harkness a nod as he waited for the bridge to be put into place, he had a shaky start with the security chief, being a wannabe gangster and all but after helping with his 'identity crisis' and picking up a hobby of killing the creatures that officers just didn't have the manpower or time to deal with the two developed a friendly disinterest in each other limiting their interactions with small talk and nods. Butch crossed the bridge and walked along the shore waving to Vera and Bryan, but as he drew closer he noticed the familiar black armour of an enemy that was supposed to be long gone. Butch had his 10mm pistol out in a speed that had been practiced for hours on end at the behest of a certain other vault dweller. There were only two of them but they were heavily armed, equipped with plasma rifles and grenades. In most cases two against one was bad enough bad plasma rifles and combat armour against a 10mm pistol and a leather jacket over a vault jumpsuit, anybody else would have been scared, but Butch had rolled with the best of them, before the first one even got his gun out, Butch had put three shots through his throat from a distance of at ten meters. But he had been sloppy, didn't check his clip and only got a click when he aimed at his next target.

The merc was surprised, he had obviously been told that his target was just an idiot, he could take his chances with the guy but he had never done mercenary work to show his bravery, he was told to get collateral and the kid would do just as good.

Butch was horrified as he saw the merc grab the kid and disappear behind a ruined building as he made his escape. By the time he reached Vera the merc and Bryan were long gone.

"W-why would they take him he's just a kid" Vera wept as she clutched the ground, Butch put his arms around her and hated the feeling of utter uselessness that consumed him. He instantly flung around pistol at the ready as he almost shot the intimidating figure known almost as widely as the Lone Wanderer to be his right hand man, Charon. Charon had seen the struggle from afar and had simply put his hand on Butch's shoulder as he explained the situation in as little words as possible. The two former comrades had left instantly after that, they'd never catch the merc, in super mutant controlled D.C. but they could find where they were taking him. Butch kissed Vera good bye and promised her he would come back with Bryan at his side. They didn't say a word the whole trip.

**Meresti subway entrance room**

Sarah, Gallows and Alexander had gone together as they had the furthest to travel, meaning more danger. Alexander had regained his sense of humour but Sarah was still concerned, she had never seen him like that and never wanted to again. They had run into a few raiders but most ran away, but between Gallows sniper rifle and Alexander's gauss rifle, none of them got away. They travelled by day and most of the night, stopping only for a few hours and Sarah couldn't shake the feeling that the two of them only did that for her benefit.

"Ah yes I missed the wasteland so... brown and... well brown" Alexander said as he sat next to Sarah "You never feel quite alive unless your questioning whether the next noise is the thing that's going to kill you" he chuckled and threw a tiny stone into the fire they had made. They decided to duck into the Meresti subway entrance and barricade the room for a good night's sleep, it was cramped but it was easy to defend and with three of them it was relatively safe.

"Do you really love it out here so much?" Sarah asked putting her head on his shoulder as he put his arm around her. She felt warm when she was with him, safe, but she hated how she also felt like he could leave at any time, like there was no place he belonged, no place he wanted to. She stared into the fire dreamily. Alexander sighed as he contemplated the full meaning of her question.

"I love having a purpose" he finally said "my father had project purity, your father has the super mutants, but I just get stuck in between them, I have my father's tenacity and a brotherhood soldier's strength, but I don't any real reason to use it, when I started project purity it was for my father, when I finished the Enclave I did it mainly because I was grateful to the old man for helping me finish my father's dream. The wastes are a place where I can forget how much I really don't belong. One day I might just decide to go Rivet City and get wasted with Butch and get into a fistfight with him over our vault days or I might go to Agatha's and get into an existential discussion with Fawkes while I listen to classical music, I can forget who I am in the wastes and get lost in the freedom of being anybody I fancy to be"

"Then why did you stay at the citadel for so long" Sarah asked sleepily. Alexander just replied by holding her tighter as he put his mouth next to her ear.

"I liked the view" They both chuckled and gradually fell asleep in each other's arms, completely oblivious of Gallows who silently stared at the fire groaning in his mind at their touchy feely crap. They awoke to a quiet knocking on the door and opened to the gentle giant known as Fawkes who hefted his not so gentle laser minigun.

"I was going to wait for you to come to me dear friend, but after I had to dispatch a numerous amount of Talon mercenaries who tried to Madam Agatha hostage I believed it might be more agreeable to seek you out so we may plan our course of action with more haste." The super mutant said as if he were enjoying tea at some casual social event. The trio just packed up their camp and they headed on their way.


	8. Memories

wow it has been a really long time since i've updated, disgraceful! Due to technical difficulties i've had to stop updating but now i'm back and pumped to write once more! i've had do with using notepad, so please bare with me as i may have to use it for the next few chapters

Ranger compound Alexander, Sarah, Gallows and Fawkes had been the last to return, everybody had been waiting in the courtyard for them. Alexander saw his old friends, comrades, family, seeing them made Alexander feel a lot of old emotions, mostly warm ones but at the back of his head he could hear his voice say 'she should be here'. He couldn't linger on his thoughts however, because his companions despite their problems were overjoyed to see eachother.

"H-holy shiiiit! A-and here I was thinking the big legend was never gonna show that mug o'his" Sydney slurred, obviously drunk as she sat at a table with an unconcious brick and several bottles of vodka.

"Brick bet her fifty caps she could drink her under the table, took two hours for her go down" Butch said chuckling, the two shook hands and moved towards the rest of the group standing by the entrance. "So man I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, didn't we take out Talon? What the fuck are they doing with Burke, who by my memory is supposed to be dead." Butch asked with concern. Alexander saw that Butch had grown up since last they spoke, he seemed less concerned with the whole 'badass' thing, more intent on getting the job done.

"Comander, this is irrelevant! Why he is alive is irrelivant, since he doesn't have the guts to do the world a favour and kill himself, we will have to do it for him!" RL-3 said in his loud mechanic voice. The others looked at him with baffled expressions, RL-3 seemed to be aware of the world around him, seemed to see people as people and not just 'commies'.

"As crude as what the sergant said may be, he is not incorrect, we can focus on how and why later, right now we must focus on stopping the madman" Fawkes said in his deep and gentle voice. Charon and Cross simply nodded in agreement.

"Yeah well it could be even worse than what I heard from the rangers, you remember Moriarty, of course you do, asshole tried to blackmail me so i paid a little visit to his shit hole, thing is, he was protected, six guys, all of them talon shit heads, could be Burke's trying to muscle into Megaton, and if that's the case could be aiming for other places too." Jericho said as leaned against the wall besides the entrance terminal.

"Your right, there's way too much we don't know, but we can't take the time to investigate, we'll have to do this like the old days" Alexander said in a serious millitary like tone. Sarah was confused, as when Alexander said this Butch, Sydney, Fawkes and even Cross and Charon began to chuckle.

"Uhh what did you guy's do in the old days?" Sarah asked, slightly concerned at what the answer might be.

"Wing it and hope for the best" All of the Wanderers said, RL-3 included. Sarah had to fight the urge to shoot them all in the face right there.

The Satesman Hotel Burke for all of the suffering he had endured, all of the humiliation, all of the sacrifice couldn't help but laugh. He stood, stood! He walked all around his room until his newly functional legs began to burn. As he enjoyed his recovery he stood by a large window in his suite and watched the ruins below him, soon they would once again be glorious, soon they would be rebuilt over that disgusting wanderer's lifless corpse. Burke had been trapped by the past, he couldn't stop replaying that event.

Megaton (Moriarty's Saloon) (Several months ago)  
>Burke sat in his armchair in the truly disgusting saloon as he contemplated all of the people he could use to enact his plan, to remove this pustule of a town from the map. He began feel his frustration grow as he thought of how long he had spent in this town, how long he had been kept from his comfortable, and more importantly CLEAN hotel suite at Tenpenny Tower. But just as he began to think of leaving for the night his prayers were answered, a lost looking young man entered the saloon and began talking to the ghoul bartender. He wore a vault-tec jumpsuit with a '101' on the back and looked to be like a perceptive boy, as he took in all of the details of the grimy saloon. "You, yes you, come over here" Burke beckoned as he fought the urge to allow his grin grow too wide. The boy slowly walked over and leaned against the wall on his shoulder as he waited to hear what Burke had to say. The conversation was civil and Burke was satisfied that he had finally found his recruit to rid himself of this disgusting town. Burke had waited a few hours and had just gotten up to leave when the local sheriff, a fool who fancied himself a cowboy called Simms burst through the door and tried to place Burke under arrest. Burke had kept his calm and waited for his oppertunity, when the sheriff reached for his rifle Burke managed to shoot him in the throat and had been gone before the blood began to pool around his corpse. Burke had been betrayed by that insolent little fool! How dare he! Burke had returned to the Tower and swore vengence against that vault dweller, little had he known then, the vault dweller had plans of his own.<p>

The Statesman Hotel Burke shook his head and returned to his armchair, he could hear footsteps approaching, and not just the major's. "Ahh good, my hostages are here" Burke whispered to himself in a very gravelly voice.


	9. Kidnapped

**Author's note: Well it's finally here! I am genuinely sorry that I've neglected this story for so very long, but that's all over now! Holidays are on and so is my story! I have to say first though thank you to all of you have added this story to your favourites list, it was the determining factor in whether or not to discontinue this story, so without further ado please enjoy.**

(DC City ruins, Dukov's place)

"Ha-ha! Holy shit Clown shoes you really know how to kick the beehive!" Dukov bellowed as he poured himself another glass of scotch. Alexander, RL-3 and Jericho sat across from Dukov who casually lay down on his heart shaped bed; the three had been looking through the ruins for days but had found nothing but supermutants who were in a less than talkative mood, finally they had decided to swallow their pride and ask Dukov who had become something of an information dealer/pimp over the last couple of months.

"Look Dukov any other time you know I'd take the time to lie about how tolerable I find you but I'm on a tight schedule so have you heard anything out of place or anything to do with Talon or what?" Alexander plainly said as he sat with one leg resting on the other, in his stealth suit it was quite an odd thing to see. Jericho who had been thinking about whether Weld would be able to handle things back in Megaton or not suddenly got a jolt back into reality as he saw something familiar move at the top of the stairs. Before any of the three could react ten Talon mercs came pouring from the woodworks, surrounding the three.

"Something strange you say? Well I was paid a damn load of money to make sure you don't go around asking about Talon, Dukov said with a disgusting smile. Jericho tensed, he had been in bad situations before but this wasn't exactly promising, just when he was about to make a move for his pistol and go down shooting Alexander began to chuckle.

"Ha-ha-ha, oh Dukov it is always a pleasure dealing with you, so conniving, so underhanded, so… predictable." Alexander clicked his finger and RL-3's visual sensors flared with a light as bright as any flash bang by the time the mercs had their vision back Dukov and the three wanderers were gone.

"Shit, this probably means we're not getting paid" one merc said as they looked around in bemusement.

**(DC Ruins, Statesmen Hotel)**

Burke sat in his armchair and contently gazed out of the window of his suite, he was no longer connected to those despicable medical machines, in fact he was feeling better than ever. He was surrounded by five tubes each glowing with a blue light, they were the stolen tesla cannons from the Brotherhood outpost, stripped to the barest of containment material, emitting it's power throughout the room, Burke stood up and raised his arms above himself his skin was grey and peeling, his eyes were pure white, only a very few strand of hairs remained on his head but such trivialities no longer mattered to him, he was a true child of the atom, the pinnacle of man-mad evolution and soon the world would be his.

"Uh sir if you'll excuse my interruption a situation has arisen"a talon merc said through a walkie talkie on Burke's desk

"Oh and what might that be? " Burke said in the gravelly voice of a ghoul

"Dukov, the one charged with distribution of the… product has been, well kidnapped by the Lone Wanderer, the major is pursuing leads as we speak." The silence that followed was more than enough of hint for the merc to put his walkie talkie down and join the next team that was deployed as far away from base as possible. Burke simply stared out of the window and smiled, the Wanderer was good, but Burke had an ace up his sleeve, two to be precise, he turned on a monitor to see a tied up Brian Wilks and Machete in room that had been modified to hold prisoners, perhaps it was time for Burke to show the Wanderer the other friends that he had made.

**(Citadel)**

Dukov had a black bag over his head for over two hours now, all he could remember was a bright light and a sharp pain in his head, he was shocked when the black bag was finally removed and he was faced with the intimidating figure of the rebuilt Liberty Prime.

"So Dukov how do you like the place? I know it needs some plants here and there to balance out the all the metal but considering that the selection consisted of burnt tree we decided to hold off until we had more selection to choose from." Alexander casually said as he leaned against the chair that Dukov was tied to. "So ten Talon bodyguards nice, you're certainly moving up in the world, but Burke really? Did you get tired of the world of prostitution because that really seemed to be you're passion."

"Fuck you clown shoes! Burke is going to kill you so badly you will feel the pain for ten lives! He is more than a man now, more than you can even imagine!" Dukov spat at Alexander, his face turning bright red as he struggled against the duct tape he was tied with to no avail.

"Do you know why I chose this room? Well you see this is where we keep Liberty Prime when he's not out, you know killing people, you see if you don't talk then it's going to be up to Liberty here to get the information out of here, have you ever had over two hundred gallons of plasma shot at you? No? Well I can only gather this from the screams of the people I've heard on the field but it's quite unpleasant, so how about you use that goddamn tongue before I shove it up you're excrement where it so surely belongs. What makes Burke more than a man?" Alexander said becoming frighteningly serious.

"I-it's the supermutants, after you shot him he got picked up by supermutants and they did something to him now they follow every word he says, I only know this because I paid one of the mercs to hack that Major's computer, Burke used the supermutants to kill whatever leadership they had left and takeover Talon now he's using whatever the hell those freaks did to him to do it to almost everyone else in the wasteland, make an army of slaves, he said that some would be kept pure, breeders, he said I'd be kept pure if I found a way to distribute the stuff into Rivet City's water supply." Alexander had to step back as it sunk in, Burke was exposed to FEV? God the supermutants were bad enough as mindless idiots but if Burke was calling the shots, dear god. He left Dukov tied to the chair guarded by two knights and went to the pride's den, a plan began to formulate in his head but the others would need to be brought up to speed first.


	10. A Plan Takes Shape

**Hey guys, mainly a recap chapter but the wheels are turning, and the drums are beating, the next few chapters are basically going to be about preparations before the conflict, some bonding, maybe a bit ace-combat-eske dog fighting and some behind enemy lines shadow warrior recon by our favourite ice man Gallows. Reviews are always appreciated and read and would help move speed up the thinking process. **

**(The Great Hall, Citadel)**

The den was far more crowded than usual that day, in addition to the pride Alexander's rag tags and Riley's Rangers filled the room, Alexander, Sarah and Riley were the only ones seated while their groups were squeezed in behind them, Sarah and the pride dominated one of the half circle tables whilst Alexander and Riley sat at opposite points of the other. Others among the crowd were Scribe Rothchild, an exceedingly aggravated old man Alexander introduced as a 'specialist' from Rivet city and another super mutant by the name of Uncle Leo. The crowd began to settle down as Alexander stood to talk.

"Alright so here's the situation so far sports fans, Burke whom we have discovered has been exposed to FEV the… whatever the hell it is that makes supermutants, and has not only survived a bullet delivered by yours truly, but has taken control of and from what we have seen expanded the remnants of Talon company they have become active all over the wasteland but mainly around the DC ruins area. Burke has taken civilian hostages, which include a child; obviously we need to be cautious in order to get the hostages back unharmed, thanks to the cooperation of a… acquired Ex-Talon soldier who has been released after providing us with invaluable Intel we know that Talon are under the influence of psychoactive stimulants hidden in their chem supplies, this means any and all Talon soldiers are basically going to go bat shit when encountered, well more so than before. Thanks to some hands on persuasion techniques we now know that Burke plans to infect the entire wasteland, we can only assume that this will mean an assault on the purifier or Citadel or infecting aqua pura shipments being delivered to the major settlements. As such we have upped patrols in the settlements and guard details on the purifier; Liberty Prime has been put on active detail to defend the Citadel, but the clear objective is to put an end to the source of the threat, Burke, now we have yet to confirm this but if Burke HAS indeed been infected by FEV then he may very well have control over the supermutants, no jokes or sarcasm, if this is true then we face a serious problem." Alexander stopped to let what he said sink in; the mood in the room was grim to say the least, a feeling that was becoming all too familiar here. After a few minutes of quiet mumbling Alexander resumed his speech with the acute attention of all in the room. "Now we are faced with three problems. One: where has Burke made his base of operations? All of his communications are done by Talon intermediaries and apparently all of his communications to them are done via radios. If he is controlling the super mutants then it stands to reason that by following super mutant activity we can track him to his base and seeing that the heaviest fortifications and number of the muties are in the city, Riley's rangers will be tasked with tracking them to possible base locations and before we go any further I have spoken with elder Lyons who is in full agreement, Riley you and your team have already proven your promise and we would be honoured to invite you into our ranks, as another elite unit within the Brotherhood of steel." Everybody showed a great deal of surprise to this, none more than Riley herself, she had never really thought much of the Brotherhood, but she also didn't think much of starving to death either, and with the way freelancing as a merc group was going that was going to be their likely end, looking at the faces of her team mates she could tell that they were thinking exactly the same thing, she stood herself and with a shrug and sly smile said

"Fine but we're keeping the name." Alexander chuckled and held his hands up in a defensive manner.

"Hey I'm not brave enough to argue with you, we've already prepared some armour for you, and I think you'll like some of the custom changes I made myself, oh and congratulations, star ranger Riley. Now that's our first issue the second is retrieval of the hostages, we make an active move and they're dead or worse." Many of Alexander's group grimaced at hearing this as they thought of their loved ones. "Now seeing as a frontal assault is out of the question we're going to have to infiltrate complex, seeing as we can't be sure whether or not Burke has informants or even listening devices inside of the Citadel, this phase of the operation will be handled by my team with the assistance of scribe Rothchild, uncle Leo and our specialist, once we have infiltrated the complex my team which for the remainder of the operation shall respond to the unit name 'Wanderers' for practicalities sake, are you quite done sniggering Brick? Thank you. As I was saying once we've infiltrated the complex we will extract the hostages and signal the Rangers for evac. From there the operation becomes simplicity itself, the Pride will deploy, neutralise any countermeasures in place to defend from Liberty Prime and pacify any and all ground resistance as Prime lays waste to the base and hopefully any hazardous materials inside, naturally we will have a hazmat team on standby for clean-up and destruction of any and all FEV. Okay all unit heads are to immediately begin their preparation; The Rangers are to report to the courtyard after getting refitted in the armoury." With that the crowd dispersed and the gears of war began to turn.

**(Citadel Courtyard)**

Riley and her team after a brief but brutal crash course in the use of power armour by an intense drill sergeant, they were fitted up and got up to the courtyard. As they filed out into the daylight, they were stared at by knight and initiate alike. Their armour instead of the standard steel was a mixture of black and yellow, instead of a left shoulder pad a Brahmin skull adorned them, and on the right pad the Ranger emblem was emblazoned, with one modification a blue sword ran through Riley's name, somehow making it seem more aggressive than it was before.

"Hahaha, I figured a more wasteland-y approach was more appropriate" Alexander chuckled as he admired his handy work "Truth be told It's actually based of a suit of armour I got of a slaver king back in the Pitt" Riley tried to avoid making eye contact with the staring eyes of the Brotherhood, Donavan constantly shifted about, unused to having a thousand mechanical parts shift around him, Brick loved everything about it, the feeling of indestructability, the sheer intimidation effect it gave as she wielded Eugene about, how freaking cool the skull was, she strutted about like she was an angel of death and as far as most the initiates were concerned, she was, Butcher just took one step at a time, focusing on its limitations, cautious that he may have to preform first aid on someone in the suit, the quicker he broke it in, the better.

"It's uh unique definitely, maybe a little flashy but not bad, Brick seems to like it" Riley tried to say confidently, she really didn't like all of the staring and the alien feel of the armour, maybe if she had a helmet and they couldn't see her face it would feel better.

"Yeah I was shy first time to, relax you'll get over when people start shooting you" Alexander said in a disturbingly bright tone. "But now for the really fun part, you're getting a new member! And before youay anything no it's not negotiable, you'll see when she arrives." As Alexander finished saying this a low chopping sound began to fill the air, it grew and grew until a vertibird roared over the Citadel, after a masterful turn it gently landed behind Alexander who stood with his hands behind his back, with his yellow visor off all that could be seen was his face, his broadly smiling face, a thoroughly disturbing sight. The vertibird sported the ranger's emblem also. A slender woman with fiery short red hair sporting a green suit of recon armour with the ranger emblem on her back stepped out of the vertibird and gave an awkward salute to Riley.

"Mam! Scribe, uh ranger Vallincourt reporting for duty mam!" Vallincourt said in her low feminine tone, one might almost call it sultry. Riley returned the salute just as awkwardly and did a double take when she saw Alexander had already left.

"Uh okay so you have any combat experience… ranger" Riley asked hesitantly as she gauged the girl in front of her.

"Does almost getting accidentally shot while examining a plasma rifle count mam?"

"No"

"Then no, uh, mam"

"How long have you been flying?"

"Just finished my training course top of my class" Vallincourt replied with a bright smile of pride

"How many others in the class?"

"Two"

"T-two? How long was the course?"

"Two weeks" Riley fought the urge down to shoot Alexander in the face with great difficulty as she and the rest of the rangers stepped into the vertibird to begin their first dry runs to familiarise themselves with quick flight departure and power armour combat, not to mention their new pilot.


End file.
